Congress is back in the swing of things after spring recess. Spending decisions are most prominent on the agenda before full time focus on the election kicks in.

1. White House Submits Scaled-Back Recission Package to Congress

After floating the likelihood of a $60 billion recission package which would cut funds included in the just-passed FY 2018 spending bill, the White House shifted gears and put forward a more modest proposal of $15 billion. The package does not touch the FY 2018 spending bill, but rather targets "unspent" funds. Almost half of the $15 billion would be cut from the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP). No education programs are proposed for cuts. While some House Republicans have expressed concern about the CHIP cuts, others are calling for bigger cuts throughout the government.

Congressional opposition to the original idea of a $60 billion recission package was rapid and bi-partisan. However, the scaled back package may be more palatable. Congress has 45 days to act on the proposal. The House is considering acting on the package as early as next week. It is not yet clear if the votes are there to pass it. The bigger question mark is in the Senate. A number of legal and procedural questions have been raised in the Senate as well in terms of the rules related to potentially cutting mandatory spending, which much of the proposal is. Analysts note that the $15 billion recission package wouldn't make a dent in the fiscal outlook of the country as it is such a tiny sliver of funds - funds which appear to be defunct already.

The White House has also floated the idea of a second recission package which would tackle cuts in the FY 2018 spending bill. This package is likely to be substantially larger than the current one and also likely to face a mountain of opposition.

As the Congress moves to consider the recission package, it is also moving on the 12 FY 2019 appropriations bills. In an effort to make headway as soon as possible so attention can turn to elections, both bodies are pursuing "regular order." In other words, each body is seeking to act on each of the 12 bills as soon as possible. The House has already begun markups on individual bills and the Senate is hoping to have each of the 12 bills passed through Committee by July 4. Since the Labor/HHS/Education spending bill is one of the largest bills and the most controversial, it is the least likely to make it through the process on the expedited timeline.

Because the two year budget agreement set caps for FY 2019, the process is likely to run relatively smoothly this year. Allocations are likely to be similar to last year, though perhaps slightly increased in the Senate. Education advocates hope for a year of some modest increases and holding the line against cuts. One challenge is always that the Labor/HHS/Education bill generally allocates any additional funds to the National Institutes of Health first. Also competing for additional funds will be the program intended to fight opiod abuse.

Budget watchers expect that completion of all 12 bills before the election is mighty ambitious. A more likely scenario is the completion of a few bills and the adoption of a temporary continuing resolution (for the Labor/HHS/Education bill and others) running past the election, probably into December. At that point consideration of a final FY 2019 spending bill would unfold with the new election results in hand.

For a great chart on how the budget and appropriations processes are supposed to work, see:

As you will recall, the House has been moving a bill intended to create a voucher program for children of the military utilizing existing Impact Aid funds. The bill, HR 5199, was introduced by Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) and has 65 Republican co-sponsors. The intention was to include the bill as a part of the National Defense Authorization Act, which was marked up in Committee this week. The voucher proposal was not included, nor was it offered as an amendment. This is likely because of the significant opposition to the proposal including 90 national education, disability and civil rights organizations and 27 veteran and military organizations. In addition, it appears as if the bill would not have had enough support to pass.

The next step for the National Defense Authorization Act is floor consideration. That may happen as soon as the week of May 21. It is anticipated that Rep. Banks will offer his voucher bill, or some version of it, as a floor amendment - assuming it makes it through the Rules committee. Education and related organizations are on high alert, as many Republicans see expansion of vouchers as an election year issue.

4. Comments on Proposed Delay of IDEA Disproportionality Regulations Due May 14

The Department of Education has proposed a two year delay of regulations intended to address the overrepresentation of minority students in special education and in disciplinary actions. The regulations were released in 2016 and scheduled to go into effect July, 2018. Comments on the proposal are due Monday, May 14. As of today, 207 comments have been filed (you can read them by following the link below). Education advocates are concerned that this delay flies in the face of repeated data sets noting the ongoing overrepresentation of students of color in special education and disproportionate discipline actions.

The Education Commission of the States released a new brief Rethinking Dual Enrollment to Reach Mores Students. See: https://www.ecs.org/

The National Education Policy Center released a critic of virtual schools Full Time Virtual and Blended Schools: Enrollment, Student Characteristics and Performance. See: http://nepc.colorado.edu/

The National Center on Education Outcomes released Chronic Absenteeism and Students with Disabilities. See: https://nceo.umn.edu/

NCLD and Understood.org have developed a Parent Toolkit on professional development topics such as multi-tiered systems of support, Universal Design for Learning, personalized learning and strength-based IEP's. See: https://www.understood.org/

Education Next is out with Rating Teacher-Preparation Programs arguing that ranking teacher preparation programs on the basis of graduates' value-added scores is ineffective. See: http://educationnext.org/

The Brookings Institution's Susanna Loeb is out with The Financial Stress of Teaching in Regions of Fast Economic Growth. See: https://www.brookings.edu/

The Center for American Progress issued Bold Ideas for State Action, a set of policy proposals recommended for state and local elected leaders to pursue. Included are education recommendations such as "pay teachers like professionals." See: https://www.americanprogress.org/

I am heading to Cuba next week with a delegation led by our awesome colleague Jackie Rodriguez from William and Mary. We will be studying the education system there. I'll be blogging about our trip and tweeting as often as I can @janewestdc Did you know that Cuba has about the highest literacy rate in the world of any poor country? There is a lot to unpack there.